UFC Fight Night 81 Video Highlights: Travis Browne vs. Matt Mitrione

In the night’s main event, the promotion’s bantamweight champion, T.J. Dillashaw, put his belt on the line against former titleholder Dominick Cruz. Dillashaw rose to the top of the division while Cruz battled injuries and was forced to relinquish the belt. Dillashaw captured the belt at UFC 173 with a fifth-round stoppage of Renan Barao and has since defended the belt twice. Cruz had fought just once in the last four years, earning a 61-second knockout of Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 178. The 30-year-old, who held the title in both the WEC and the UFC, had not tasted defeat since 2007, but had struggled with multiple knee injuries.

The co-main event of the evening featured a lightweight match-up between former Bellator MMA champion Eddie Alvarez and former WEC and UFC titleholder Anthony Pettis.

The 13-fight event kicked off Sunday with five preliminary card bouts streaming live on UFC Fight Pass at 6 p.m. ET. Four additional preliminary card bouts aired on Fox Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET, with the four-fight main card taking place at 10 p.m. ET, also on Fox Sports 1.

About The Author

Bryan Henderson became a fan of MMA in the late '90s when he happened upon the early UFC events on VHS at a local video rental store. He started writing about the sport on his Sporting News member blog in 2007 before becoming an official staff writer for Sporting News' "The Rumble" MMA/boxing blog. He went on to become a staff writer and the Features Manager for MMA DieHards before moving on to The MMA Corner, where he assumed the role of Editor-in-Chief. Bryan left The MMA Corner in 2014 and founded Combat Press along with two of his colleagues. In addition to covering mixed martial arts, Bryan also operated the Modified Mind body modification e-zine website for more than a decade.